The adult in the shell of the child
by White Crescent
Summary: A story by me about what made Rinoa run away


Free as the birds

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII and so on. FF8 belongs to Squaresoft.

My notes: HI! It's me….(read the name of author above…:) ) This idea came out of my mind after my father just told me that I can't visit ant chatrooms and forums…even fanfiction.net's forum. I was just in a bad mood and I thought, hey I sounded like Rinoa…Although I don't really like Rinoa **that** much, I think she's okay. Okay, this is a short fic about what drove Rinoa to run away from her father. If there are things that don't go with the game…then sorry, I haven't played FF8 for quite a while, right now I play Oni and Final Fantasy 9…so sorry. I also thought that Caraway was the happy-go-lucky type, and thought that 'hey, he can cope with the lost of his wife after three years or so', so Caraway isn't the Mr. Serious-guy here. Send some ideas to me!!! (no spams please and those viruses!!!) My email is displayed in my profile in the Author's Directory!!! Okay, thanx!!! Read&Review please.

The adult in the shell of a child

Rinoa sighed as she moved the cursor towards the 'x' button of the explorer window and pouted. It was in the middle of the night and she was bored, lonely and frustrated. Her father, Caraway was all too strict….but not as the iron-handed father, more like the too-caring type. She wasn't allowed to go to chatrooms and forums at all! The fact that she wasn't allowed to go out of their old gloomy mansion made it worse. She longed for friendship, and freedom. Was it selfish or greedy to ask for such a simple wish? Freedom, to be treated as an adult? 

"I'm already fourteen and he treats me like I'm seven!" 

She quickly stood up from her chair and looked at her room. She felt like what she had just said just hit her hard on the face. Her room was like a child's. It had cute stuff toys all lined up neatly beside the big window. Her bed was blue and white, its blanket had feathery fur on its edges. A character clock was silently ticking, it hung right above the bed. Some display figures were displayed on her other study desk. The carpet, which covered the room's floor, was patterned with angel feathers. And to make it worse, the room's wallpaper wasn't mature at all! It was light blue with moons, stars, and angel feathers patterned all over it.

"Oww….that hurt…" she mumbled. She did seem like a child. Angrily, but trying not to be defeated, she stomped out of her room. In her fuzzy bunny slippers and with a red face, she went to her father's office and opened the door politely, in case her father had any visitors. Luckily there were none except her father working quietly in front of his computer, and with a hot cup of coffee beside him. He greeted her with a sunny smile.

"What brings my little Rin here?" he asked with a joking voice. Rinoa glared at him for the use of 'little', but her glare wasn't 'scary enough, and her father passed it off as a 'yeah,yeah' look.

"Dad, why can't I go to chatrooms, forums? Or even go out to find friends?!" she asked her father, she tried to make her voice as pushy as possible but failed miserably.

"Dearest." He picked up his cup and drank his coffee then put it back to its place. "Chatrooms and forums have some materials no suitable for children like you."

"Children?" Rinoa mumbled angrily. 'Children?!'

"And going out is dangerous. I don't want you mixing in with the wrong people."

"I know its dangerous! I know it is. I know chatrooms and forums have bad materials! But don't you think I know at least what's good and bad generally?"

"Generally. But you're—" Rinoa interrupted him.

"A child? A child? I'm more—"

"Maybe when you're fifteen." 'Fifteen?! That's a year from now! By then I would have lost my mind!' Rinoa thought angrily.

"Fifteen? By then I won't need to ask for your permission." She then turned to leave. Her father didn't even mind. "Goodnight Rin.", he just said.

"I'm more mature than you think. Even if I don't act like a fourteen year old, my mind is mature." She said out loud, but her father didn't mind her. And she had thoughts of him just smiling at the foolishness of his daughter.

'So? You think that I'm so helpless? Dad? You think I can't run away and do all those stuff you said are bad? You're wrong. I'm more mature than you think! I'll show you, I'll show you that I'm no childish teen, with helplessness like a newborn kitten. I'll show you, and I wont stop trying until I succeed! Even if I'll fail many times or get embarrassed! A true matured person must always never stop trying until she succeeds!'

That night, Rinoa slowly tip-toed into her father's room and bid him farewell. She had not greeted her father good night, so she took the opportunity to take say her first good night to her father for that night and the last until she succeeds. As she leaned quietly beside her father, she whispered gently.

"Goodnight, dad. May you have sweet dreams."

And then she left but not after she took 10,000 gil from her father's wallet. She was off to meet the world, and to make new friends. She was off to show them all that she wasn't that helpless, and that she was mature in mind. 


End file.
